Salthill Quarry

Salthill Quarry
Limestone wall of Salthill Quarry
Location in Lancashire
OS grid	SD 755 426
Coordinates	53°52′45″N2°22′20″W / 53.87926°N 2.37216°W / 53.87926; -2.37216
Area	8 hectares (20 acres)
Operated by	Wildlife Trust for Lancashire, Manchester and North Merseyside
Designation	Local nature reserve Site of Special Scientific Interest
Website	www.lancswt.org.uk/nature-reserves/salthill-quarry-local-nature-reserve

Salthill Quarry is a nature reserve of the Wildlife Trust for Lancashire, Manchester and North Merseyside, near Clitheroe in Lancashire. It is a local nature reserve and a Site of Special Scientific Interest, notable as a site of fossilised remains of crinoids. ^[1]

History

The site is next to an industrial estate. The draft document for the Geology Trail at Salthill Quarry was published by the Nature Conservancy Council in 1979, and this prevented probable development of the site. It was designated a local nature reserve in 1989. ^[2]

Geology

The area lay at the bottom of the ocean during the Carboniferous period, and there are fossilised remains of crinoids in the Carboniferous limestone. The palaeontologist Stephen Donovan has written that Clitheroe "is probably the best area to collect fossil crinoids of any age in England." The site also contains a Waulsortian mudmound. There is a Geology Trail: a circular walk in which ten locations each have a numbered post, where a QR code can be scanned by a smartphone to obtain a description of features there. (Hammering limestone is discouraged in the nature reserve.) ^{[1] [3] [4]}

At the top of a bank is the Crinoid Seat, created by Fiona Bowley and Jon Fenton, featuring carved panels depicting crinoids. ^{[1] [4]}

Wildlife

During the summer there is bird's foot trefoil, common knapweed, lady’s bedstraw, agrimony. meadow sweet and rough hawkbit. There is woodland, mainly of ash and hawthorn. ^[1]

Butterflies and birds can be seen including common blue butterflies, orange-tip butterflies, goldfinches, bullfinches, blue tits and great tits. ^[1]

Access

There are footpaths around the site, with some steps at the southern end of the reserve. ^[1]

References

1. "Salthill Quarry Local Nature Reserve" Wildlife Trust for Lancashire, Manchester and North Merseyside. Retrieved 22 September 2025.
2. "Documents that saved nature reserve added to town's historical archives" Lancashire Telegraph , 11 September 2021. Retrieved 22 September 2025.
3. "Why you should visit Salthill Quarry" Lancashire Life. Retrieved 22 September 2025.
4. Stephen Donovan. "Salthill Quarry, Clitheroe: A resource degraded" Deposits. Retrieved 22 September 2025.